The present invention relates generally to an aircraft seat structure and more particularly to a method for integrating a modularized aircraft seat into an aircraft structure for improved performance and communication.
Commercial airplane interiors are presently developed with a wide-array of various types of electronics and options available to seated passengers. Many newer systems incorporate in-flight entertainment, communications, gaming and audio. In addition, traditional options such as seat adjustment, tray tables, climate control, and lighting are installed. The result of such plurality of systems available to passengers is commonly that complex and costly wiring schemes must be configured into the plane's fuselage in order to provide control of these functions.
In addition, it is common for the status of many of these passenger-controlled functions to be verified prior to aircraft takeoff and landing. Present compliance is commonly accomplished through the physical verification by airline staff in pre-flight and pre-landing checks. This consumes considerably time and energy. Known system address some concerns such as seat position and tray table through the use of sensors wired into a master control panel to report status to the crew. These systems, however, require extensive rewiring of the aircraft fuselage and may provide serious maintenance concerns. Additionally, these known systems are inflexible and difficult to add increased functionality to. As a new function added to the seat would require additional routed wiring to the control panel, cost effectively limits the ability to upgrade such systems.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to have a design for a modular aircraft seat assembly that would allow for an upgradeable seat assembly with simple installation into the fuselage. Such a design would have the benefit of allowing for seat upgrade without requiring a rewiring of the fuselage. Furthermore, such as system would allow for an improved range of monitoring of the aircraft interior status without physically altering the interior structure. Finally, such a modular seating design could be used to move the majority of passenger convenience and safety features into the aircraft seat. In this fashion, overhead storage could be improved and seating technology could be improved.
It would additionally be highly desirable to have an improved method of communicating aircraft readiness for takeoff to cabin crews to reflect operational status, tampering, functional status, or passenger count without requiring physical inspection of the cabin.